Some Staten Island drivers are putting their petals to the metal — tying bunches of fake flowers over local speed cameras to keep them from working.
More than a dozen bunches of the bogus buds have been yanked down from devices in the borough in recent weeks, and the city Department of Transportation has recruited the NYPD to help find the perpetrators behind the blossoming road hack.
“Speeding kills. Tampering with speed cameras is unacceptable and puts lives at risk, a DOT rep told The Post. “We are actively working with the NYPD, and the perpetrators will be held accountable for jeopardizing public safety.”
Some locations of the 14 bouquet-covered cameras included Hylan Boulevard in Dongan Hills and Armstrong Avenue in Eltingville, according to various social-media posts.
It’s unclear when the bouquet protest started, if the same cameras were targeted multiple times or what the penalties are for tampering with a speed camera. The DOT did not provide a list of locations where blocked speed cameras were found.
“Brought to you by The Staten Island Beautification Squad,” read one tag posted to a floral arrangement affixed to a speed camera, according to a Friday post on X.
Despite the DOT’s disdain for the bud-acious move, some Staten Islanders appeared to be fully behind the flower-wielding vigilantes.
“I support people doing that,” Staten Island contractor John Santos told The Post. “It’s a way of keeping money in our pockets, we have a hard time enough.
“It’s better than vandalizing it or destroying [the cameras],” said Santos, 34.
“It is a money grab,” he said of the devices. “It is the same thing as congestion pricing.”
A plumber, Mike, called the camera-blocking effort “good.
“Sometimes you are a little over [the speed limit]. It doesn’t matter” to the cameras, he said. “I support [the flower power] with all my heart.”
Business owner Joseph O’Toole said, “They should get rid of every speed cameras.
“It’s all about revenue,” he said. “The speed limit is ridiculously slow. At [the citywide speed limit of] 25 mph, you are standing still.”
Anthony Mattolla, 40, told The Post he “hates these cameras” and that “people are frustrated.
“We don’t need it over here. This is not Queens Boulevard,” he said, referring to the so-called Boulevard of Death in the other borough. “We don’t have that kind of speeding over here except for a few knuckle heads. They are usually young. They make it bad for everybody.”
Deli worker James Conrey said he’s “neutral” about the stunt, calling the issue “funny, but it’s vandalism.”
He meanwhile claimed that it’s not his beloved Staten Islanders speeding but rather drivers from outside the borough.
“It ain’t us. Heck, no,” he told The Post. “You have people coming from Brooklyn going to [New] Jersey. I’m sure some of them are speeding.”
Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella told The Post that “while we do not encourage anyone to step over the line of the law, we understand why so many people are fed up.
“Many people are justifiably frustrated with speed cameras,” the borough president said. “What began as a measure to protect children expanded massively across the borough.
“It seems there is a speed camera every few blocks, and each is active 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. Simply put, they have become cash cows and a money grab.
“Given congestion pricing and increasing Port Authority tolls, this recent trend is not surprising.”
More than 4.45 million school-zone speed-camera violations were issued in the five boroughs in 2023, according to the Staten Island Advance, amounting to more than $222 million in fines citywide.
Staten Island represented the smallest portion of those violations, according to the outlet — but its drivers still lodged 312,083 amounting to $15,604,150 in fines. That’s compared to Queens, which had the highest number of violations at 1,739,345 million and $86,967,250 in fines.
Drivers caught speeding by a camera are fined $50 – “far less than a speeding ticket issued by a police officer,” DOT documents point out.
But instead of speed cameras, Conrey contended that the city should be using “police to catch these people.
“The camera is a hazard,” the 59-year-old deli worker said. “People are not paying attention, they go for the brakes, it can cause an accident.”
Santos said, “People are slamming on their brakes because they’re worried about the camera.
“You see the way people drive anyway, it doesn’t help anything.”